Broken Pieces

There is a strong case for saying that writing is a form of therapy. I’m not a psychologist or counselor but as an author I believe that writing has been a major vehicle for becoming a more whole and emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthy individual. In fact, writing my first book saved my life. Having served in Britain’s Parachute Regiment for many years with two tours of service in Northern Ireland I left totally broken. I had nearly died, lost most of my insides, suffered countless surgeries and was miraculously expected to return to ”normal life”. A story sadly very familiar to those returning from Afghanistan today.

For my own sanity I desperately had to make sense of what had happened to me, and the only way I knew how was to write about it. So I shut myself away for weeks and wrote till I could write no more. That deeply personal outpouring became the basis for my first bookContact. It was an instant bestseller and is still selling strong today. I had found my voice and have never looked back. But more importantly, I had taken a step towards finding myself, and that was more vital than any outward success. That same feeling pervades my writing process today.

For me, the books I describe as “great” are those that I can connect to from some place deep within myself. They may not be of my experience but they feel real, they transport me from the known to beyond where I have been before and expand my horizons as an individual in an authentic way. That invisible connection to my emotions is what differentiates an “ok” book and a great book.

So how do authors achieve that? We often write flawed characters whose weaknesses may be our own. Whilewemay want to stay in denial our characters cannot. So we are forced to confront our own demons so our characters can deal with theirs. Our stories often take us where we never intended to go and in doing so, kicking and screaming, we are forced to grow. I experienced that withContact, with all 5 fiction books thereafter right through to my latest thrillerThe Orange Moon Affair.

In fact, the whole process of writing is a growth experience in itself: getting over the panic of writers block; admitting your first chapter sucks and starting all over again; subserving your own ego to that of your characters so their life becomes more important than your own; admitting failure and still moving on; spending hours of research to write 2 lines; searching for that elusive perfection that seems just out of your grasp – and as if that isn’t enough - writing the last word and expecting elation but instead you’re surprised by deep depression for the adventure is over and the real world is not nearly so interesting a place anymore. What could be more growth inducing than that?

If you can master that AND the sweet smell of success when you’re adored, wanted, desired, in the limelight, bigger than life and suddenly an authority on everything - then you have truly traveled an incredible journey.

The Jonas Trust Deception, another Thomas Gunn thriller by bestselling author AFN Clarke, follows The Orange Moon Affair, a "hard to put down", "5-star novel by a 5-star author". Thomas (ex-Special Forces) goes on high alert after a desperate message from his journalist friend, Morgan. She's in danger. But where? And why? Rushing to her ranch he finds it being torn apart by a highly-trained female assassin of East European descent, with a mysterious butterfly tattoo on her neck. An image that sends his mind reeling. Dread seeping into his soul.

In her ongoing investigations, Morgan may have uncovered something even more explosive and far-reaching than the Orange Moon conspiracy. If so, her enemies will want both her and her information destroyed. Racing to follow tangled leads, Thomas and his girlfriend Julie are thrust into the deadly path of Mexican drug cartels, corrupt politicians, unscrupulous financial brokers like Jonas T Purdue, the FBI, the UK intelligence services and their arch nemesis Marika Keskküla. What deception binds these unlikely "players" together? What's their power struggle really about? And even more personally disturbing, why the constant links back to a secret mission in Afghanistan, that Thomas has tried so hard to forget?

Outraged by the feeling of constantly being "played", Thomas decides to turn the tables on the faceless "puppeteers" by taking an action so bold, so dangerous, and so unexpected, that even his team fear he's lost his mind. Has he? Or can he expose the "vermin" at the top and finally eliminate them forever?